(Senior) Legal Counsel - Investment Products
HV Capital is a European venture capital firm that provides capital and support to bold founders across multiple stages and industries. With 26 years of experience, they have backed companies across AI & Enterprise Software, Deep Tech, Resilience & Defence, FinTech, and Consumer sectors.
About HV Capital
HV Capital is a venture capital firm with 26 years of experience investing in European innovation across multiple industries and business cycles. The firm backs founders from early stage through growth, spanning multiple fund generations, with a portfolio that includes companies in AI & Enterprise Software, Deep Tech, Resilience & Defence, FinTech, and Consumer sectors. Notable portfolio companies include NEURA Robotics, Zalando, n8n, Isar Aerospace, Quantum Systems, ARX, and Scalable Capital, with several portfolio companies having reached IPO. HV Capital has approximately €2.89 billion in assets under management and works with founders across multiple disciplines and team perspectives.
Skills
About the Role
You are part of the legal infrastructure that powers Upvest's Investment API. You bring a granular understanding of the capital markets lifecycle and use it to build a scalable, cross-border legal framework that keeps pace with a fast-moving product. Your mission is to enable Upvest's internationalisation by closing the gap between rigid financial regulation and flexible, API-driven product design. Working within a high-performing legal team, you will help ensure that as Upvest expands across the EEA, UK, and Switzerland, the product remains legally robust, commercially competitive, and technically precise.
Requirements
- At least 3–5 years post-qualification experience (PQE) in the financial services industry
- At least one German legal qualification (Erste Juristische Prüfung)
- Hands-on understanding of lifecycles across a variety of investment products (stocks, investment funds, bonds, derivatives)
- Experience in a regulated investment firm, fintech, infrastructure provider, or bank with a brokerage and custody product offering
- Strong command of EU and German financial law (MiFID, WpIG, WpHG)
- Exposure to UK (FCA) regulation or other European NCAs is a strong plus
- Familiarity with adapting core legal frameworks to new European markets and regulatory regimes
- Enthusiasm for streamlining the legal function through technology
- Professional fluency in English and German
Responsibilities
- Be the legal authority on the lifecycle of financial instruments
- Partner directly with Product and Engineering to co-design features from fractional trading to new asset classes
- Translate MiFID II/III and WpIG into concrete technical requirements so compliance is built in from the first line of code
- Own the legal adaptation of Upvest's core German investment offering as it expands into the UK, Switzerland, and the wider EEA
- Define jurisdiction-specific requirements while preserving a coherent, scalable product framework across markets
- Serve as the internal expert on EU and German financial regulation
- Monitor and interpret regulatory developments across MiFID, WpIG, WpHG, and MaRisk
- Translate regulatory implications into actionable guidance for Product, Operations, and Compliance
- Lead and support the negotiation of complex B2B agreements with institutional counterparties
- Drive the modernisation of Upvest's legal function
- Champion the adoption of contract lifecycle management tools and AI-assisted review workflows
- Act as a trusted adviser to Product, Engineering, Operations, and Compliance
Benefits
- 30 days of annual leave
- Sports benefits
- Confidential professional coaching
- Flexibility to work remotely abroad for up to 183 days a year
- One-month fully paid sabbatical after every 4 years of working at Upvest
- Personal development budget
- Flexible work environment across hubs in Berlin, London or Tallinn
- Competitive salary and employee equity program
- Company-wide events, dinners, offsites and Holiday party